The youngster suffers a number of medical problems including Rett syndrome - a rare, life-limiting neurological disorder.

The A Team singer even managed to tune Melody's guitar for his performance, mother Katrina Driscoll said.

Ms Driscoll told the Press Association: "Melody was in hospital for 562 days and in that time, every time she got in pain, we would have to put Ed Sheeran on to help her through the pain episode. It was the only thing we could do to make her smile.

"I then started campaigning over a year ago to try and get her to meet him. We made a request video to try and get his attention but shortly after we made that Ed went on his social media break."

Ms Driscoll said the visit came about after Croydon Police intervened.

"I was really impressed because he had no press with him, no cameras with him, no management, no security, nothing. It was just him alone," she said.

"Melody is connected to a lot of machines and a lot of scary things and a lot of tubes. But none of that fazed him at all. He went straight up to her, sat next to her.

"I t meant the world to me to see her truly happy. The amount she has to go through and we managed to make her one dream come true."

She added: "I literally owe him my life. He doesn't realise how much he's done for her.

"There's been several times she has stopped fighting when she has been very sick and we thought we were going to lose her. We put Ed Sheeran on and she starts fighting back.

"It just goes to show that dreams can come true and miracles can happen. You just have to keep fighting for them and she does."

Ms Driscoll added that Melody - who turns 10 next month - was "still on cloud nine" following the visit.